Schools

Portable Toilet Idea Makes a Splash With School Board

Several residents requested Westwood Regional High School provide portable toilets during games and other events.

A plan proposed by local residents could flush away a problem with bathrooms at Westwood Regional High School football games.

Westwood Regional School officials are investigating the possible use of portable toilets for players and spectators during sports and other events at the high school after several residents requested them at a school board meeting Thursday.

Currently, anyone who needs to "go" during games has to walk a long distance into the school building to find a bathroom or walk into the woods behind the field in search of a secluded spot, according to Washington Township resident Vito Trause.

Trause, a World War II veteran, described an incident when he was taken as a POW by the Germans. While building a railroad, he asked a guard for permission to go relieve himself in the woods. The guard's shift ended while Trause was gone and the new guards found him missing and thought he was trying to escape.

Trause said he expected to be shot as the guards chased after him with their dogs. Walking into the woods behind Westwood Regional High School's football field always reminds him of the traumatic experience, he said.

"Seventy years ago this happened, and I still think about it," Trause said.

Cardinals Athletic Association President Norma Jean Kerri said many parents had also been discussing the issue. 

"A lot of other Big North facilities have Porta Potties," Kerri said.

Board of Education President Roberta Hanlon told Patch that Interim Superintendent James Sheerin and other school administrators will investigate the issue and come back with their analysis of options at the board meeting in two weeks.

"We all agreed to do something," Hanlon said. "It's a matter of what we need to do."


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